Monday, February 25, 2008

Spiritualized's Songs in A&E press release:After much anticipation, and a longer than expected wait, Spiritualized are set to release their long-awaited 18 track sixth studio album, ‘SONGS IN A&E’, on Spaceman Records on May 26th. The US release will be announced this week.Track listing:1. Harmony 12. Sweet Talk3. Death Take Your Fiddle4. I Gotta Fire5. Soul on Fire6. Harmony 27. Sitting on Fire8. Yeah Yeah9. You Lie You Cheat10. Harmony 311. Baby I'm Just a Fool12. Don't Hold Me Close13. Harmony 414. The Waves Crash In15. Harmony 516. Borrowed Your Gun17. Harmony 618. Goodnight GoodnightThe album will be preceded by the single, “Soul On Fire”, available on 7in vinyl and digital on May 19th.Since the release of the last studio album, ‘Amazing Grace’, there followed a lengthy period of touring but this was unfortunately curtailed by a serious illness which struck main man Jason Pierce in 2005. Time spent in intensive care interrupted the writing and recording of the follow up record both prior to, and after his illness. Inevitably perhaps, this setback turned into an inspiration…The band will be touring with the full line up and additional gospel singers in May followed by extensive touring around the world including shows at Benicassim in Spain, Summer Sonic in Japan and extensive tours & festivals in the UK, Europe and USA.The Spaceman adds, “Also this year, Harmony Korine's truly beautiful "Mister Lonely" film is released to cinema with an OST to follow on Drag City Records. It was an honour and trip to work on that one and probably one of the things that was most instrumental in me finally finishing the Spiritualized album so we all got Harmony to thank for that one.”Following the completion of the A&E recording sessions there was a period of label uncertainty in 2007 so Spiritualized presented their acclaimed Acoustic Mainlines live show, during which they previewed ‘acoustic’ versions of new & old material, at many and various festivals and revered venues, including the legendary Apollo Theatre in Harlem, NY.Acoustic Mainlines will play their last few shows at the i-Tunes festival on March 2nd at Air studios and a handful of US west coast shows including the Coachella Festival in April.

+ denotes bonus track taken from Union Chapel, London, UK 12/9/07SITTING ON FIREDEVIL TOWNLORD LET IT RAIN ON METRUE LOVE WILL FIND YOUSTRAIGHT AND THE NARROWCOOL WAVESHOLD ONAMENSOUL ON FIREWALKING WITH JESUSGOING DOWN SLOWSO HOTSTOP YOUR CRYINGANYTHING MORELADIES & GENTLEMENLAY IT DOWN SLOWBABY I’M JUST A FOOLTHINK I'M IN LOVE +GOODNIGHT, GOODNIGHTFUNERAL HOMELORD CAN YOU HEAR MEOH HAPPY DAY

Friday, February 22, 2008

This compilation almost goes against everything I believe in, except, of course, the music. Inspired by a local barista making the move to Chicago, I hastily decided to raid my collection. Essentially, there are no rules, no parameters (no particular release dates or styles) just what stuff happened to be in my "CD" collection on Feb. 19, 2008 (Happy 65th Birthday, Dad!) that was either from a Chicago group (at one time or still is) or on a Chicago based label, with most love going out to Drag City and Thrill Jockey in particular. And, lets just say, a lot of great stuff got left off. In the eleventh hour, I almost nixed the whole idea. I wanted to change it to just include exclusive or harder to find tracks, such as Papa M's rendition of "Turn Turn Turn" or Red Red Meat's 7" only "Idiot Son," or something from Kevin Drumm and his melancholy electronic Triangles project, or Rob Mazurek's more experimental solo cornet and electronics project or anything at all from David Grubbs' Blue Chopsticks label or Jim O'Rourke's Moikai label, never mind their joint obscure reissue label, Dexter's Cigar, the latter two labels including releases from forward-thinking guitarist/musician, Rafael Toral. Or even something from up and coming label, Burnt Brown Sounds. Also of note that's missing: the great electronic artists Oval and Nobukazu Takemura, both of which Thrill Jockey championed in the mid-'90s and beyond. Maybe I'll have to make an addendum volume to this stuff someday. Something a little more thought out and involved. Let's just say every track on this is a killer. I guess that's what the common thread is linking these songs together. so here's to the Windy City: the artists, the labels, the seasons, Lake Michigan. This mix begs for Spring too; the warm days and warm nights... Luke, wherever you are, roll the car windows down and - oh, wait, most people don't have cars if they live in the city - I still hope you find this mix burnin'!